FIELD OF INVENTION
This invention relates to an adjustable support, jack, or holder for supporting cooking pots, such as a billy (metal pot), coffee pot, kettle, or any swing-handled container, device, cooking utensil, e.g., over a campfire.
In the past, when boiling liquid in a billy or coffee pot over a campfire, the usual methods were: (a) supporting the billy or coffee pot on stones or rocks and lighting a fire under it; (b) supporting it on wooden rails or logs and light a fire therebetween; (c) propping a branch of a tree up with a forked stick and hanging the billy or coffee pot from it; (d) supporting a steel plate with rocks or wood then placing the billy or coffee pot on the plate; (e) setting the billy or coffee pot on the ground and lighting a fire beside it; (f) tying a tripod of sticks together, placing it over the fire, then hanging the billy by chains or wire; (g) driving a spiked stick into the ground at an angle, then hanging the billy from the top end; and (h) driving two forked sticks into the ground, placing a spanning stick across them, then hanging the billy or coffee pot from it with a chain or wire.
All of the above methods have resulted in accidents and injury, generally by scalding if the billy tipped over unexpectedly, or by hot ash and steam getting into the mouth or eyes when boiling liquid overflowed or was spilled into the fire. Sometimes the hot billy was accidentlly taken off the fire by hand, causing burned fingers, which in turn caused the billy to be dropped, thus scalding the user and possibly bystanders.
Although many thousands of accidents have occured, and many disastrous forest and bush fires have resulted, people continue to go camping for relaxation, and to light fires to boil liquid in a billy or a coffee pot, and to do other cooking in containers mounted over campfires.